Monthly Archives: January 2015

The Season, launched at the United Nations in 1998, marks the annual 64 calendar days between the memorial anniversary of the assassination of Mohandas K. Gandhi on January 30 and that of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4. The Season teaches that every person can move the world forward in the direction of peace through daily nonviolent choices, words and actions.

The following is from the 64 Days website: 64days.org

WEEK 1 (1-7)
Nonviolence begins with learning how to be less violent and more compassionate towards ourselves. We learn by building the courage to speak and act with respect, honor and reverence for our own being.

Day 1 – COURAGE (Jan. 30)

Eleanor Roosevelt has urged, “You must do the things that you think you cannot do.” Practicing these 64 Ways will challenge you to do things that you think you cannot do. Today, light a candle and accept the courage to practice 64 Ways of living nonviolently.

Day 2 – SMILING (Jan. 31)

Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh said, “If in our daily life we can smile…not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.” Today, share a smile with at least three people, knowing that your smile contributes to peace.

Day 3 – APPRECIATION (Feb. 1)

Louise Hay says, “Praise yourself as much as you can…The love in our lives begins with us…Loving yourself will help heal this planet.” Write down 10 things that you appreciate about yourself. Read aloud what you have written.

Day 4 – CARING (Feb. 2)

According to Peter McWilliams, “Nonviolence toward the self is caring for oneself. It is what the Greeks call reverence for the self.” Real caring is not just what we say, but what we do. Make a list of at least five ways that you can take better care of yourself. Practice at least one today.

Day 5 – BELIEVING (Feb. 3)

Author Wayne Dyer writes about the impact that our beliefs have on our daily lives. Today, believe that you have all the resources to move your life in the direction of peace. Be aware of simple demonstrations of peaceful responses you receive.

Day 6 — SIMPLICITY (Feb. 4)

To simplify is to invite peacefulness. Think of three ways you can simplify your life and put at least one of them into practice today.

Day 7 – EDUCATION (Feb. 5)

Knowledge strengthens your conviction and deepens your wisdom and understanding. Learn about the power of nonviolence by educating yourself. Read or watch on a subject that relates to nonviolence. Learn about human rights, diversity, ecology, history, and politics, forgiveness, spirituality, peace studies, biographies of heroes and more.

“Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139: 7)

The answer to the question posed in our scripture is “nowhere.” There is absolutely nowhere we can go that the presence of God is not. This I find extremely comforting, for no matter what we are experiencing we have the assurance that God is right where we are. Not only is God experiencing with us what we are feeling, but God is also present to move us through that experience should it be one we wish to release from our life.

Our word for the week is a powerful one. The word is “Be.” To “be” is to always have a consciousness that affirms that the fullness of all that we are is a creation of God. This is a being that affirms that life is truly stacked in our favor, but we must live our life as though that is the truth about God being active in our lives. Whatever is happening, God is right there.

We should begin by examining the thoughts we are having right now. Are we affirming that God is providing for us and blessing us right now? Do we look at our life right now and affirm those things we really want to experience? Our thoughts today will create our tomorrow. If we want a full and blessed tomorrow we must look no further than what we are thinking today. Affirmative God thoughts today will be the seeds that bloom tomorrow.

Shakespeare wrote, “To be, or not to be.” The choice is ours to be all that we have been created to be. When we live that truth God says to us, “Just wait. Just wait. You were going to be amazed at what I have in store for you. You are going to love this, just wait.”

Affirmation: “Today I affirm that all that I am is the creation of a loving God. I will live that truth in all that I experience and I give God thanksgiving that it is so.”

We live our lives one thought at a time. Let each of those thoughts really count for something wonderful.

Be prepared to change your thinking and change your life. Please join us each Sunday at 5:30 PM in our Social Hall at First Christian Church, North Hollywood, CA for our Contemporary Celebration and Praise service. Come as you are and enjoy an hour of great music from our wonderful band and singers, inspiring messages and good fellowship. Those things in life that you have been seeking have also been seeking you. Now is a good time to receive them. We will lift one another to live exciting, abundant new lives of possibility and purpose.

Also, join me on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 8 PM for an hour of guided and silent meditation, reflection, affirmation and prayer. As always, we will share communion together. Everyone is welcome. We are an open and affirming congregation.

I loved reading Robin Roberts book Everybody Has Something. As one of the anchors of “Good Morning America” on morning television Robin is not just a wonderful television reporter and host, but a true inspiration to millions of people through her work and her life. Truthful, courageous, beautiful inside and out, I have long admired this incredible woman. Her book tells about her struggles with breast cancer and years later, as a result of those treatments, her experience of needing a bone marrow transplant because of how those earlier treatments had affected her body.

Robin Roberts counted her many blessings as she went through her health scare. She constantly kept her thoughts on all that she was given and the positive things that filled her life. Her family, her co-workers, her partner, her career. In the middle of her pain there were still signs of how God had blessed her, and continued to bless her abundantly. She thanked God for being with her each and every step of that journey and in the process she found an avenue to her healing.

God touches each of our lives in amazing ways. We must continue to pause, give God thanksgiving, and count the blessings we have been given. In the midst of whatever we may be going through, counting our blessings changes the direction of our thinking and it re-focuses us to the power of God in our lives. Our faith will be uplifted and our courage will be strengthened as we do so. Each thought we have today will create our next experience and our new tomorrow. It begins today with what we are thinking.

Want a fabulous, abundant tomorrow? The time to begin setting the stage for that is today – right now. There is no time to waste.

Affirmation: “I start to count my blessings and I discover they are without end. Thank you God for loving me so much that you would bless me in such wonderful ways.”

We live our lives one thought at a time. Let each of those thoughts really count for something wonderful.

Be prepared to change your thinking and change your life. Please join us each Sunday at 5:30 PM in our Social Hall at First Christian Church, North Hollywood, CA for our Contemporary Celebration and Praise service. Come as you are and enjoy an hour of great music from our wonderful band and singers, inspiring messages and good fellowship. Those things in life that you have been seeking have also been seeking you. Now is a good time to receive them. We will lift one another to live exciting, abundant new lives of possibility and purpose.

Also, join me on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 8 PM for an hour of guided and silent meditation, reflection, affirmation and prayer. As always, we will share communion together. Everyone is welcome. We are an open and affirming congregation.

Our words have power, a power to heal and a power to guide us. May you be blessed abundantly as you allow this word to speak to you this week.

As we chose our word for this week we did so with great intention. It is the week that we honor the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and as we do so we think of the struggles that humans have faced and that they have overcome. Struggles because of race, sexual orientation, religion, gender. People have throughout history faced struggles with dignity and resolve to enlighten the masses to the one true humanity of all people. God has created us each with a beautiful individual expression of life and we are to understand and live out that life to the fullest of our abilities. What brings us comfort is the knowledge that we don’t have to do it alone, for Spirit God is always right where we are at every moment to help. If we have a need, it will be provided. If there are other people needed for us to continue our dream, God will send them to us and us to them. When we face struggles and challenges we can look upon them in two ways. They can defeat us and cause us to cower in retreat, or we can see them as challenges from which we can rise above to new heights of understanding.

Because each thought we have is powerful we should always begin by affirming that the presence of Spirit God is always available to us in whatever way we need. Each positive, affirmative thought can create the change we desire to see in the world.

Whatever the challenges are that you may be facing today know that Spirit God is facing them with you. Together, you and God, can surmount those challenges and create beautiful new opportunities for you and for others. Yes, we live in a fragmented world, but the great power of Spirit God is right here with us to help mend those broken places and set us free.

In the 16th century Ignatius Loyola required his fellow Jesuits to practice a form of reflection called Examen. Even though this meditative reflection is centuries old it is still very powerful for us today. It allows us to mindfully look at our lives in a prayerful way to examine where we are and where we would like to be. There are five steps. They are very simple, and yet effective.

First, center your attention on the presence of God always right where you are at this and every moment. Remember you can never be alone, so Spirit God is fully present within you. Secondly, with a sense of deep thankfulness review your day. Start from when you first awakened, even before climbing out of bed and reaching for that first cup of coffee. Move mentally through your day with a feeling of gratitude. Thirdly, look at your emotions. What is coming forth for you this day? See Spirit God holding you and nurturing you through whatever you are experiencing and lifting you to a fuller expression of God in your life. Fourth, choose one thing that occurred in your day, a thought or any aspect you would like, and really pray into that experience. Shine feelings of hope and possibility for new beginnings and opportunities into your experience now, and as you would desire your experience to be. Fifth, look forward to tomorrow with excitement and hope. Know that your tomorrow is the product of your thinking today; the two are connected through the power and Light of a God who loves you unconditionally.

As with all meditative reflection God will plant your answers like seeds within you and those seeds will sprout with beautiful revelations as you are ready to receive them and as they are needed by you.

Have fun with this Examen and enjoy the awakening God has planned specifically just for you.

“And we want each one of you to show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope to the very end, so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” (Hebrews 6: 11, 12

Affirmation: “My thoughts of God’s presence create a beautiful today and set the stage perfectly for a beautiful tomorrow.”

We live our lives one thought at a time. Let each of those thoughts really count for something wonderful.

Be prepared to change your thinking and change your life. Please join us each Sunday at 5:30 PM in our Social Hall at First Christian Church, North Hollywood, CA for our Contemporary Celebration and Praise service. Come as you are and enjoy an hour of great music from our wonderful band and singers, inspiring messages and good fellowship. Those things in life that you have been seeking have also been seeking you. Now is a good time to receive them. We will lift one another to live exciting, abundant new lives of possibility and purpose.

Also, join me on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 8 PM for an hour of guided and silent meditation, reflection, affirmation and prayer. As always, we will share communion together. Everyone is welcome. We are an open and affirming congregation.

I think too often we live our lives looking for logical, or rational, explanations for things and we miss a great deal. We become so consumed with trying to parse life and life’s many aspects that we actually forget to see the larger picture and live a full and abundant life. We dwell on the small things, perhaps those things that hurt us, and those negative thoughts become the dominant direction and focus of our thinking. When we do this we fail to see the larger picture of God’s grace and possibility. We run the risk of missing a great deal of God’s truth being revealed to us and in so doing we live our lives on a very surface level with an “I can and need to do it all on my own” attitude.

I love watching little children play. They start out moving from one thing to another with seeming grace and joy. Later they begin to say to us “I do that” and they want to tie their own shoes, dress or feed themselves. This is good because they learn to take care of themselves and learn the value of accomplishment. As we grow older our attitude of doing everything ourselves can carry over into our spiritual lives. We fail to remember that we have God on our side, we fail to remember that Spirit is available to help us and in reality it is Spirit that is doing the heavy lifting for us at this and every moment. It is because of Spirit’s presence that we can endure.

We have within us an amazing device called intuition. It is that still small voice, that “gut feeling” if you will, that often speaks to us with clear and direct messages of what we should do and what decisions are best for us to make.

As we travel the road for this thing that is our life we must always remember that Jesus is with us to map out our route. (Remember the old days when you would go on a trip, get a Trip Tic from the Auto Club and go with the assurance that your travel would be in good order?) Our route may sometimes be on roads that are clear, straight, level and with beautiful scenery, but should we wander off course and find that our travel has hit bumpy roads, with scary sites all around us and hills that are difficult to climb, we can know that Jesus is still with us. We are God’s beloved child, brothers and sisters with the Christ, and we can re-direct our course by trusting in the Divine Presence to pull us through. Though we may think it is through our own efforts that we are navigating those bumpy roads and getting up those hills, it is indeed the Christ who is helping us to get from where we are to where we desire to be.

All roads lead to Spirit. We just have to be willing to make the journey.

Affirmation: “I gladly journey forth with the Christ knowing I am safe, secure and blessed at this and every moment.”

We live our lives one thought at a time. Let each of those thoughts really count for something wonderful.

Be prepared to change your thinking and change your life. Please join us each Sunday at 5:30 PM in our Social Hall at First Christian Church, North Hollywood, CA for our Contemporary Celebration and Praise service. Come as you are and enjoy an hour of great music from our wonderful band and singers, inspiring messages and good fellowship. Those things in life that you have been seeking have also been seeking you. Now is a good time to receive them. We will lift one another to live exciting, abundant new lives of possibility and purpose.

Also, join me on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 8 PM for an hour of guided and silent meditation, reflection, affirmation and prayer. As always, we will share communion together. Everyone is welcome. We are an open and affirming congregation.

The gospel of Mark tells us a beautiful story of Jesus baptism. Jesus emerges from the water and we read, “And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.

The image of coming out of the water for each of us can represent that release of all those things that hold us back, cause us to have feelings of defeat, or keep us in a state of constant stress. Coming out of the water represents our letting go of the old, the worn out, and the no longer relevant for us. Coming out of the water also represents a powerful affirmation to ourselves that we have a willingness to see life in a new way, live life in a new way, and share that example of new life with others. We are by virtue of that “resurrection” from the old way of life then entering into the light of a new experience. This new light exposes our old limited thinking and provides for us a marvelous opportunity to set before us a new course.

Many people do not remember their baptism for they were infants. Several of us grew up in churches that practiced believer’s baptism by immersion. Either way, we can have a new baptism through the power of our thinking. Our thoughts are powerful, our intentions are creative and when we seek Spirit God’s direction the lives we co-create with God are beautiful.

We can follow the example Jesus set before us by prayerfully answering God’s call to be a force in the world for good, peace and reconciliation. The decisions and thoughts we have today will create our tomorrow. So there is something to consider in that your present, your future, your today and your tomorrow are completely interwoven.

We live our lives one thought at a time. Let each of those thoughts really count for something wonderful.

Be prepared to change your thinking and change your life. Please join us each Sunday at 5:30 PM in our Social Hall at First Christian Church, North Hollywood, CA for our Contemporary Celebration and Praise service. Come as you are and enjoy an hour of great music from our wonderful band and singers, inspiring messages and good fellowship. Those things in life that you have been seeking have also been seeking you. Now is a good time to receive them. We will lift one another to live exciting, abundant new lives of possibility and purpose.

Also, join me on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 8 PM for an hour of guided and silent meditation, reflection, affirmation and prayer. As always, we will share communion together. Everyone is welcome. We are an open and affirming congregation.

All too often we have the belief that external things are the source of our wellbeing and life. Our bank account, our jobs, the material things we possess, however, are not the source of all that we are. These things are merely a channel through which God, as our true source, blesses us. Ultimately it is God, perfect Loving Spirit, who provides all that we need. But, we too often limit God. We become guilty of placing limits on what God can do for us and through us, because we think of God as having the same finite mind that we possess. Our minds can only take in so much, and so that becomes the standard of what we believe is possible. God, however, is infinite mind, infinite intelligence and infinite possibility. God can do so much more than we ever thought possible and this is the God Source that moves us to experience still more in our daily lives.

When we think that our blessings have to come to us in a certain way we can fail to recognize God’s gifts when they show up differently than expected. Can it be any wonder that we live in a fearful state of scarcity, lack and limitation? God blesses us abundantly in ways too numerous to count, but God also desires that we be good stewards of those blessings by sharing them freely. In sharing the good we experience we keep the perfect flow of Spiritual Energy moving in a magnificent way that can grow, prosper and touch not only ourselves, but everyone. This beautiful ripple effect moves out to minister to all as a mighty witness of God’s unconditional grace and love. Keeping the flow vibrant and moving awakens us to our true spiritual inheritance.

“For in Jesus every one of God’s promises is a ‘Yes.’ For this reason it is through him that we say the ‘Amen,’ to the glory of God.” (2 Corinthians 1: 20)

Affirmation: “I am continually blessed and I recognize this as my spiritual inheritance.”

We live our lives one thought at a time. Let each of those thoughts really count for something wonderful.

Be prepared to change your thinking and change your life. Please join us each Sunday at 5:30 PM in our Social Hall at First Christian Church, North Hollywood, CA for our Contemporary Celebration and Praise service. Come as you are and enjoy an hour of great music from our wonderful band and singers, inspiring messages and good fellowship. Those things in life that you have been seeking have also been seeking you. Now is a good time to receive them. We will lift one another to live exciting, abundant new lives of possibility and purpose.

Also, join me on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 8 PM for an hour of guided and silent meditation, reflection, affirmation and prayer. As always, we will share communion together. Everyone is welcome. We are an open and affirming congregation.

Our words have power, a power to heal and a power to guide us. May you be blessed abundantly as you allow this word to speak to you this week.

What intentions are you setting for your life today? What is it you desire to experience in this new year? All too often we live our lives without thinking clearly about what we wish to experience and as a result our journey is more like playing bumper cars (bouncing off obstacle’s and disapointments) rather than it is moving from one well thought out plan to another. What we think about, dwell upon, and affirm for ourselves becomes our experience. We see good because we look for good. We see possibility because we look at circumstances in our lives and see that there can always be more, not less.

An intention can be as specific as you would like, (a new job, relationship, home) or it can be more general, such as wanting to experience more happiness, joy and the presence of Spirit God working in your life. As we set our intentions we must always make sure that we leave room for God to bless and support us. God can take our intentions and multiply them in ways that are far and above what we could have ever on our own imagined. When we realize that we co-create our lives with God we open ourselves up to more exciting revelations of all that an abundant life can be.

I marvel at just how awesome is our God. Recently before our Sunday 5:30 SpiritSong service a group of us were standing on the landing outside the social hall doors amazed at the beautiful colors that appeared in the westward sky. Shades of blue, magenta, purple, and clouds that looked like waves of white cotton arranged in a beautiful formation. The synthesis of the colors and clouds was like a beautiful painting that defied description. This was indeed, and could only be, the handiwork of God presented to all to stir the spirit and inspire the soul.

The Psalms often speak of the awesomeness and the magnificence of God. So wondrous is the presence of Spirit God in our lives that we can scarcely take it all in. Look around you. Whatever you see is the creation of a loving God who beholds you in awesome wonder as well.

So often I am so overcome with the wonder of God everywhere I look that I simply have to stop and try take it all in. I try to comprehend the fullness of God’s presence and grace and yet I cannot. No human can, and yet we can allow that Spirit around us to change and move us to a greater understanding of God working in, through, and as our very being.

If you are feeling low, in need of healing of any kind, concerned as to what action you should next take in your life, I suggest it is an especially a good time to stop and truly recognize the flawlessness of God that is always right where you are at every moment. Breathe in this Holy presence, let it anchor within you a new understanding of this incredible power to change your life.

Yes, God, you are indeed an awesome and wondrous God. Mighty to behold, unconditionally loving and forever faithful. May we forever recognize and be grateful for this and all of our blessings, for we also read in Psalms, “For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised.”

“For the Lord, the Most High, is awesome, a great king over all the earth.” (Psalm 47: 2)

Affirmation: “Sometimes the only response to God is to say, ‘Thank you.’”

We live our lives one thought at a time. Let each of those thoughts really count for something wonderful.

Be prepared to change your thinking and change your life. Please join us each Sunday at 5:30 PM in our Social Hall at First Christian Church, North Hollywood, CA for our Contemporary Celebration and Praise service. Come as you are and enjoy an hour of great music from our wonderful band and singers, inspiring messages and good fellowship. Those things in life that you have been seeking have also been seeking you. Now is a good time to receive them. We will lift one another to live exciting, abundant new lives of possibility and purpose.

Also, join me on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 8 PM for an hour of guided and silent meditation, reflection, affirmation and prayer. As always, we will share communion together. Everyone is welcome. We are an open and affirming congregation.